I’ve spent the last 2 years doing a lot of resumes and LinkedIn profiles for job seekers. I’ve also done a lot of biographies and social media marketing copy and consulting for coaches, authors and other solo business owners along the way. But now I’m leveraging my last two years of experiences (all of which were paying gigs, so no need to smack my pen out of my hand, LOL!) and I am positioning myself to expand and work with bigger companies like my first one.

Another way I use to write copy is write down headlines from my swipe file on little 3 x 5 cue cards and shuffle them. Then I ask myself 10 questions about who my target market is, like what keeps them up at night? What are their biggest frustrations, what are their biggest fears, what do they secretly desire the most… etc. what makes them tick. And also shuffle that with the headlines.
Thanks for the advice. I have gone though the templates and done what you suggested and joined groups relevant to the area I want to service. However I have now been blocked by Facebook for two weeks and I am not sure why. I was just joining as many groups as possible. Is there a limit to how many I can join at one time? Everywhere I turn I am hitting brick walls.

Premium or gated assets are typically longer form, and/or more time-intensive pieces that don't exist on a blog. They might be used to generate leads or contacts, or for brand-building purposes. These are typically created by the dedicated long-form content creator if your team is large enough to have one, but sometimes bloggers get involved too, as blog posts are good testing grounds for what performs well and is thus worth investing in.

Premium or gated assets are typically longer form, and/or more time-intensive pieces that don't exist on a blog. They might be used to generate leads or contacts, or for brand-building purposes. These are typically created by the dedicated long-form content creator if your team is large enough to have one, but sometimes bloggers get involved too, as blog posts are good testing grounds for what performs well and is thus worth investing in.

I searched for the best way to get started; enter, Elance. It took a while to get that first measly web content contract. But after that project, the client gave me stellar feedback, and my service started to gain speed. I wasn’t making much at all, but the inquiries came rolling in. So much that I neglected to respond to some project invites, which lead to the demise of my Elance profile. Yep, Elance suspended my account that had pretty good potential and creditability. Make sure you read those terms carefully. Lessons learned.

Those scenarios might have sounded like a lot of work to you, especially when considered alongside marketing programs that provide more immediate gratification -- like list purchasing, PPC, or trade show marketing that deliver names and email addresses in mere minutes. Often, content marketing is used when businesses realize those programs are either ineffective, too expensive, not scalable, or all of the above. Here's what I mean, using the "infographic generator" example above for demonstrations.

Since reading your stuff I can’t help but do #1 (exericise #1 that is…..) when I see ads. Our local newspaper just started a campaign on the newsstands that I just don’t understand. It’s their logo, a photo of a loaf of bread, and the copy “The best thing since sliced bread.” WHAT? How on earth does this warm me up to buy a newspaper? And the cliche!
Throughout this training the instructor Ian Lurie will show you how to write copy that conveys your story and sells your product. Explore the different types of copywriting, benefits of drafting on paper, going over the general rules and optimize the content based on the outlet and platform. The lectures are accompanied by exercises and quizzes that let you get hands-on.
Now, you’ll have a much easier time crafting copy that their target audience will resonate with. If you do your research right, you’ll end up having a much easier and faster time writing copy that works for them. Plus, with all that research, you’ll write copy that could potentially solve your prospect’s problems, and you’ll create copy they’ll be genuinely impressed with.
And the first thing I am going to tell you is that words are personal. Even when it's for business. What you say—and how you say it using text, images, layout, links and typography—creates your business’s personality online. As a high-end website copywriter for creative businesses online since 1999, I want to tell you, it's always about people (even when you're an SEO copywriter - see my copywriting philosophy).
Great post !! I only recently found your Kopywriting Kourse, purchased and was able to implement a great number of improvements that evening. Thank you! I also used the website “editor” to rewrite ad’s and stories to compare to the original…what a great tool! (and a great way to “wind up my smart ass friends” when I send a screen copy of f’d up stories on them…) I told them i found a way to “hack” their web based articles….I guess I should tell them today I was just messin’ with them……or maybe let it ride over the weekend….
Throughout this training the instructor Ian Lurie will show you how to write copy that conveys your story and sells your product. Explore the different types of copywriting, benefits of drafting on paper, going over the general rules and optimize the content based on the outlet and platform. The lectures are accompanied by exercises and quizzes that let you get hands-on.
The personal finance site Mint.com used content marketing, specifically their personal finance blog MintLife, to build an audience for a product they planned to sell. According to entrepreneur Sachin Rekhi, Mint.com concentrated on building the audience for MintLife "independent of the eventual Mint.com product."[18] Content on the blog included how-to guides on paying for college, saving for a house, and getting out of debt. Other popular content included in-depth interviews and a series of financial disasters called "Trainwreck Tuesdays." The popularity of the site surged as did demand for the product. "Mint grew quickly enough to sell to Intuit for $170 million after three years in business. By 2013, the tool reached 10 million users, many of whom trusted Mint to handle their sensitive banking information because of the blog’s smart, helpful content."[19]

"The best way to help your sales team is to build brand awareness and create content that generates a lot of leads over time. An increase of twice as many leads means twice as many quality leads -- as long as you have software that lets you filter those incoming leads efficiently. That's how you build a successful sales and marketing machine," explains Mike Volpe.

Since then I’ve been trying to recapture the same flame I had going on Elance on the Upwork platform. I’m honestly just frustrated with platforms such as these. I’m an experienced Copywriter, with a Journalism degree. I want to make this a career. I know that I have services that many can benefit from. All of your advice is what Ive been searching for. It’s extremely difficult to to find resources on how to carve out a writing career. You genuinely want to help others, and I thank you. I’m going to put everything I’ve just learned from you to work today!

The work of our team doesn’t go unnoticed by industry professionals. We’ve won more than 50 awards for our innovative strategies, demonstrating that our team doesn’t settle for “good enough.” Instead, we go the extra mile, delivering customized, performance-driven strategies that achieve your goals — and then some with our SEO copywriting services.

There are a host of metrics to look at when you have a robust analytics solution, but having too many goals to live up to tends to result in prioritization difficulties. I recommend content marketing teams have 2-3 metrics they measure, and perhaps some secondary metrics each sub-team can measure to help understand when there are different levers to pull. Here are my recommendations:
Email lists are marketer's most treasured assets -- and they're a smart way to drive traffic, conversions, and re-conversions on your content. Invest in growing your blog email subscription list for an incredibly valuable distribution arm alongside your sales lists. You can do this, for example, via lead flows that politely ask readers if they'd like to subscribe as they're reading through certain articles on your website.
If you haven't already noticed, you're currently perusing a blog post. Blog posts live on a website and should be published regularly in order to attract new visitors. Posts should provide valuable content for your audience that makes them inclined to share posts on social media and across other websites. We recommend that blog posts be between 1,000 and 2,000 words in length, but experiment to see if your audience prefers longer or shorter reads.
Thanks for this write-up Nev. I know it is old but I just started getting my hands dirty copywriting. I have read your book on copywriting (this book will teach you to write better..) and I have read all the boron letters too. I have done some little (copy) writing (mostly sales page without any intent of them being a great copy, just a necessity I had to go through). I must thank you for all these resources. My writing has gone up by over 1000% doing all the stuff here. I figured out I need to communicate clearly and use conversational style and that is just what your writing style is and what you advocate for (Imagine! this was easy for me to write. Damn!. Normally I will struggle to have my thoughts gathered together for this kind of writing). I am still practising, I have to thank you again. As for the tripple skills threat, I am a web developer (I have an engineering degree (masters), which makes this even a more sweet spot for me). I am able to apply writing clear copies to write clear code (least effort, no convolutions or complicated ideas if not needed). Damn, I enjoyed writing this piece. Feels like I finally get my word(s) across. Thank you and please recommend me how else I can improve.